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The GreenBiz State of Green Businessreport came out today, and while it includes a few rays of light--a booming renewable energy market kicked off by dropping polysilicon prices, the continued interest of companies and investors in non-financial data, and the astronomical growth in cleantech-related patents filed over the past few years--overall it tells the story of a short-sighted economic recovery. [In the interest of full disclosure, I contributed to the report.]

In 2009, when the economy was really tanking, emissions went down. Environmentalists, enraged by cuts to EPA funding and backpedaling on initiatives like improving the Clean Air Act, found some comfort in the fact that at least the slow economy had also slowed down pollution. Now that we've had a few years to gather and analyze data, a different picture is emerging. Cuts to environmental oversight--not just in the public sector, but in the private sector as well--were in fact much deeper than the average hit inflicted by the economic downturn. So when business started to come back to life a bit, much of the infrastructure to keep emissions and energy use in check had been dismantled. Initiatives that had been planned to reduce the use of toxic materials had been put on the back burner. And so it is that we wound up with a 16-percent increase in toxic emissions in 2010, and that the final figures for 2010 carbon intensity (a function of tons of energy-related CO2 emissions versus value of gross domestic product), show global emissions growing faster than the global economy.

"The results are the starkest yet,” Leo Johnson, a partner in the sustainability and climate change practice at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, said of the carbon intensity numbers, which his firm analyzed in its Low Carbon Economy Index. “For the first time we have made no improvement in our rate of decarbonization. We have in fact increased the carbon intensity of growth. The economic recovery, where it has occurred, has been dirty.”

That statement is backed up by the Environmental Protection Agency's recently released Toxics Release Inventory for 2010, which shows a substantial increase in the release of toxic chemicals, after years of decline, attributed largely to mining. Given that it only monitors a small percentage of toxic chemicals, and that it has nowhere near the resources necessary to ensure that the self-reported emissions data it collects is accurate, it's likely that reality is even worse than reported.

The town of Tonawanda, NY illustrates both the problem and the slight silver lining emerging around all of this bad news. In 2009, after several years of gathering evidence and writing letters, residents of Tonawanda convinced the EPA to conduct a surprise inspection of the Tonawanda Coke plant, which they believed to be releasing far more toxics into the air and water than what it was reporting to the agency. The inspectors found the plant was releasing 30 times what it was reporting, and the company and its environmental manager have since been charged with violating pollution laws and obstructing justice in a pending criminal indictment.

In much the same way, consumer watchdogs the world over are getting better at applying the sort of pressure needed for companies to change their operations. And several companies, whether unwilling to risk a PR nightmare or eager to meet corporate and consumer demand for greener products, are voluntarily cleaning up and streamlining their supply chains.

Several large companies, particularly in the apparel industry, are voluntarily phasing out toxic chemicals and working to keep better track of emissions. Adidas, Nike and Puma have all committed to have zero discharges of hazardous chemicals by 2020. Levi’s is making a big push to reduce both the use of water and the discharge of chemicals to water in its manufacturing process, and has joined the Better Cotton Initiative to help grow the market for sustainable cotton.

Every day there are inspiring stories of companies investing in innovative sustainability programs. In the absence of government oversight, many consumers and businesses are stepping up to take matters into their own hands. Unfortunately, the data shows pretty clearly that it's not happening fast enough nor broadly enough to make the sort of impact most scientists deem necessary to protect the planet's ecosystems.